


The Last Person He Needed

by lilithtorch2



Series: Steadfast Tin Soldier AU [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: "death", Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Angst, F/M, Guilt, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-25
Updated: 2014-04-25
Packaged: 2018-01-20 18:46:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1521609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilithtorch2/pseuds/lilithtorch2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some days, the man seemed to know that he was Bucky, James, and/or the Winter Soldier. He’d weakly start a conversation with Sam and Steve and maybe even laugh. But he’d look out in the direction of New York City even though he had no idea where New York City was.</p><p>Other times, he simply curled up in a corner with a knife in his hand and refused to turn the lights on. If he was even reminded once about the horrible things he’d done, he’d choke the person who said that to him before he was tranquilized.</p><p>Most nights, to fall asleep, he’d hum a song.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Last Person He Needed

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot stop writing for BuckyNat.
> 
> Inspired by this [prompt](http://jbadgr.tumblr.com/post/82435389059/ah-man-i-rewatched-anastasia-and-i-have-head) by jbadgr
> 
> My Chemical Romance - I Don't Love You

Some days, the man seemed to know that he was Bucky, James, and/or the Winter Soldier. He’d weakly start a conversation with Sam and Steve and maybe even laugh. But he’d look out in the direction of New York City even though he had no idea where New York City was.

Other times, he simply curled up in a corner with a knife in his hand and refused to turn the lights on. If he was even reminded once about the horrible things he’d done, he’d choke the person who said that to him before he was tranquilized.

Most nights, to fall asleep, he’d hum a song.

Sam and Steve would look at each other. They didn’t know how much Bucky remembered but they recognized the notes he sang. He had stored the music inside a locket and gave it to Natalia as a parting gift so that no matter what happened, they would always find each other. He’d given other parting gifts to Sam and Steve, but that was aside the point.

She left them. No one knew if she’d taken the locket with her.

Even though Sam always insisted that family meant that “no one gets left behind” and always told himself that it was Natalia’s right to choose to leave, it still stung. In his opinion, Natalia, in asking Mr. Gold - or Rumplestiltskin or whatever name he went by these days – to rewrite her memories, took the easy way out and chose to forget all both the bad and the good memories.

What she forgot, Sam believed, was that they were all hurting from Bucky’s death: him, Steve, Pepper, and Tony.

But Steve understood the pain of heartbreak. When your true love died, you could feel it in every fiber of your being. It stopped you dead in your tracks and made you drop everything you were doing. Sam had been helping Natalia escape from the Order of the Hydra, when she suddenly collapsed and couldn’t move. It had taken every last of Sam’s strength to get her to safety.

Bucky had died, and Steve remembered it clearly; he was there. He was the one who watched him die.

That’s why, when everyone got transported into a little town called Storybrooke and Natalia left for New York City without telling anyone, Steve didn’t protest. He felt responsible for it; after all, it was his own recklessness of running headfirst into danger that had gotten Bucky killed. It was probably better for the princess if she simply forgot and started fresh. As for himself, he chose to stay with Sam and the others.

When Bucky appeared in the town later it was a surprise for everyone who knew him but horrifying just the same. His appearance was a harbinger for a series of mysterious murders until Steve, Sam and Tony worked together to stop him. They learned through Bucky's incoherent ramblings and sketches that the mad scientist Arnim Zola had resurrected him and imbued him with darkness; no one wanted to know when it happened. All they knew was that Bucky's memories weren't whole and they didn't know if he'd ever really come back. Once, when his mind was clear, Bucky admitted to killing Tony's parents and regretted every second. His mind devolved into emptiness before Tony even had a chance to react.

Some days, Bucky remembered bits and pieces of a lost fairy tale.

Other days, he didn’t speak.

But every single night, the man would still sing himself to sleep with the music from the missing locket, and Steve realized Natalia was the last person that Bucky needed with him.

It was time to bring her home.

**Author's Note:**

> Re-reading this, I think this is my way of coping with Winter Soldier #14.


End file.
